


rewrite an ending or two

by WishingTree



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: AU, F/F, Gen, alternate timelines and whatnot, split timeline au? i don't know what the hell to call this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 10:37:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18030134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishingTree/pseuds/WishingTree
Summary: When Waverly woke up that morning, the last thing she expected was for an alternate timeline version of her sister drop in on her.That definitely doesn’t stop it from happening.





	rewrite an ending or two

**Author's Note:**

> So I found this really interesting note on my phone from before the season one finale, and decided to finish it up
> 
> Warning for Willa death mention
> 
> Title from ‘She Used to be Mine’ by Sara Bareilles;

“I got it, Uncle Curtis,” Waverly called out with a laugh, waving at Curtis where he was exiting the sheriff’s station in uniform, done for the day. Hefting her armful of file folders, she turned towards the back offices that housed her workspace, calling over her shoulder, “Say hi to Shorty for me!”

Smiling to herself at his shouted affirmation, she shouldered the door open and then kicked it shut behind her, going over to her desk to set everything down. The papers made a soft thump when she dropped them, but something made her pause before she could start sorting through the pile, instead blinking and tilting her head. 

There was a strange humming noise filling the room, and she swivelled her head and rubbed at her ear, confused about how it seemed to be coming from everywhere at the same time. It only got louder, causing her to wince and press her fingers against her temple, and she dropped the files she was holding to bring up her other hand too. 

Just as she was about to go running for help, the entire room seemed to snap inwards, a blinding flash of light tearing through the entire open space. 

She yelped and knocked over a sheaf of papers, covering her eyes as she recoiled, and she almost tripped over her own feet. The light abruptly faded, disappearing along with the sound, and when Waverly cracked one eye open, Wynonna was somehow standing in front of her, smoking gun in one hand and hair in a disarray. Her leather jacket was almost in tatters, multiple rips shredding it so that is was barely holding itself together, and Waverly let her arms fall from where they had been held defensively over her head.

“Wha – what?” Waverly stuttered, staring at her with wide eyes.

It was definitely Wynonna – Wynonna who was supposed to be on the other side of the world, the last time Waverly checked. She looked older, with a haunted shadow in her eyes that Waverly didn’t recognize, but it was still _Wynonna_. 

“What are – how…? Wynonna, what’s going on?” 

Wynonna looked around before giving her a sheepish smile, and that at least Waverly recognized perfectly.

“Sorry, I’m not – I mean, I am your sister, but I’m not…  _your_  sister.”

Waverly stared at her blankly, and Wynonna–but–apparently–not–Wynonna sighed, patting down her hair.

“Shit, you’d think I would have figured out a good way to explain this after so many tries,” she muttered under her breath, and Waverly continued to look on in astonishment.

“Where did you – how did you get here? What was that – light? Why are you saying you aren’t my sister?” 

Wynonna took a deep breath, waving one hand through the air. “I’m from an alternate timeline. Sorry if I scared you, by the way, I can’t really choose where the portals drop me. In my time, these are Black Badge Offices.” 

Waverly felt her jaw drop to hang open, but made no effort to close it. Not coming up with anything to say, she continued to gape until Wynonna raised her eyebrow, bemused. “Need a sec?” 

“Oh, nah,” Waverly laughed, the sound edging slightly too close to hysterical. “Alternate timelines? Sure. What’s a Black Badge?” 

“Special division of the government.” Wynonna carefully looked her over, holstering her gun and brushing off her hands before glancing around unsurely, and Waverly pressed her lips together and shrugged.

“If demons are a thing, I guess this might as well be too.”

Wynonna clicked her tongue and flashed a thumbs up. “Revenants exist here, gotcha. So you believe me? God, you’re just always the best. I can explain the whole story later, but right now – ” 

“Hey Waves, you ready to go?” The door opened before she could continue to reveal one Nicole Haught, dressed in civilian clothes and holding a plastic takeout bag in one hand. She made a small noise and pulled back as soon as she spotted Wynonna, glancing between her and Waverly. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were busy. I’ll just wait outside?” 

“Uh, hey, Nicole!” Waverly called out apprehensively, waving her forward and shooting her a nervous smile as she looked between her and Wynonna. “Um… Meet my sister?”

“…Sister?” Nicole froze, the bag of takeout swinging in her hand where she had been moving to set it down on the table. “Wynonna, your sister?” 

When Waverly nodded, Nicole wiped her hands on her pants and walked over, awkwardly sticking her hand out for Wynonna to shake. “Deputy Nicole Haught, um, m–ma’am.” She stuttered at the end, tripping unsurely over the last word while Wynonna watched her with a mix of amusement and confusion.

“Uh, yeah. Wynonna. Earp.” She returned Nicole’s handshake and then leaned around her to look at Waverly. “Where the hell have I been that I’ve never met Haughtshot?”  

Waverly blinked, mouth opening. “Um, I’m not – all, all over the place, I think.” 

“What do you mean?”

“You left.” Waverly shrugged, “When you turned twenty–one, you went to travel the world, or… something.” 

Nicole came to hover uncertainly at Waverly’s side, and Waverly reflexively reached out for her hand, lacing their fingers together.

“Hi,” she whispered belatedly, squeezing her hand, and Nicole turned her head to press a quick kiss to the top of her hair.

“Well, it’s nice to see that hasn’t changed,” Wynonna smirked, waving a hand at them, and Waverly didn’t know the last time she’d seen that much sheer emotion on her sister’s face. “You being stupid over each other.” 

“Oh,” Waverly blushed, but she didn’t move away from Nicole.

“Anyways, I’ll get out of your way, you clearly have plans. Enjoy your night, and uh, well, you’ll probably never see me again!” 

“Wait, do you… Do you want to come have dinner with us?” Waverly offered unsurely, still holding Nicole’s hand.

“We’ve got enough food for three,” Nicole added immediately, gesturing at the bag.

Wynonna’s eyes widened in surprise, and she slowly pointed at herself in confusion until Waverly nodded again.

“…Okay, uh, yeah! Thanks, that’s – Thanks, I promise I’ll be out of your hair after that.”

Making their way outside, they filled Nicole in during the car ride, and to her credit, she only gave them both an incredulous look before shrugging her shoulders and rolling with it. Waverly must have been staring at her with an exceedingly mushy look on her face at that, because Wynonna snickered from the back seat and then wiggled her eyebrows when she turned to look at her. Waverly rolled her eyes, but she had missed her sister all these years she had been away.

Even if this Wynonna didn’t seem to be hers.

When they reached the homestead, Waverly felt a growing knot of nerves growing in her stomach, hoping Wynonna approved of the changes she’d made to the house while she had been gone. Of course, if she was from a different universe, the possibilities of what she might have been expecting were endless.

Nicole bustled off to the kitchen with the promise that she’d set the food out, and Wynonna sauntered into the living room, hands in her back pockets with one arm arranged protectively over her gun.

“Hey, you’ve still got the old TV set!” Wynonna sounded excited, and Waverly turned her head to see her patting it fondly, a wistful look on her face. “Ours was destroyed the night revenants attacked the homestead.”

“The night what?” Waverly watched her move around the room with a confused furrow to her brow, and the reaction to her words was immediate. 

Inhaling, Wynonna stilled and whipped her head around to stare at her intensely. “Waverly, the night the revenants attacked, what happened?” There was a serious look in her eyes as she came over to put her hands on Waverly’s shoulders, and Waverly didn’t understand the significance of the question.

“The homestead is safe. Revenants can’t cross the boundary line, for some reason.” Waverly pointed out the window, at the wooden fence just visible in the distance. “We think there’s some kind of mineral in the ground, but didn’t want to go digging around in case we mess with the protection.”

“You mean… the homestead was never invaded?” Wynonna’s words were quiet, and the wavering hesitation in it was almost enough to bring tears to Waverly’s eyes, though she didn’t know why. “I found it?” 

“Yeah, uh… I guess? The homestead was never invaded, not that I can remember.” 

Wynonna took a sharp breath, pulling her arms back against her chest, and her eyes were shining. “So Willa’s still alive?” 

“…Oh,” Waverly whispered, her chest hurting, and she wrapped her arms around herself when Wynonna took one look at her before her face crumbled devastatingly again. “No, Willa – Willa died when I was seven years old. You were thirteen.” 

“But – but they never invaded the homestead… I thought that…” Wynonna sounded lost, utterly broken and defeated, and Waverly swallowed, wishing she could tell her what she wanted to hear.

“She – they took her when we were in town. Snapped her neck right in front of us. It was Friday. Daddy was in the store.” 

Wynonna made a choked sound, and Waverly rubbed her arms, looking at her helplessly. She’d had to tell the story a few times before, but never to Wynonna, her sister, the only person who’d lived through it with her. The only person who had always, always understood. 

“I’m – I’m sorry.” 

Pressing her palms against her eyes, Wynonna muttered something Waverly didn’t understand, and then she gritted her teeth. “Of course,” she snarled, the sound not even close to threatening on account of the way her voice was shaking, and she went dangerously still, muscles twitching in aborted motions to start pacing around before she brought her hands back up to her head and took a long breath.

“Are you okay?” Waverly asked hesitantly.

“Just. Once.” Wynonna bowed her head, clenched fists pressing against her eyes. “Just once. Why can’t she survive, just one time? Just in one life.” 

Her voice broke on the last word, and when she looked up at Waverly, her sister taken aback at the sight of tears glimmering in her eyes.

“Are – are you – okay? What are you talking about?” 

“I thought I had it right this time,” Wynonna said miserably, “I thought she was alive.” 

Waverly opened her mouth, but she didn’t know what to say, only able to watch as Wynonna ran a hand through her hair and paced around tightly. “I can never save her. Willa never lives past fifteen.” 

“So… you’re saying you’ve seen all these timelines where she dies?” 

“The ones where she dies, the ones where she never existed…” Wynonna laughed humorlessly. “I’ve even seen the timeline where I’m the one to kill her.” 

Waverly blinked in shock, staring as Wynonna hung her head and scrubbed at her eyes. “Okay, can you – Is now a good time for that explanation you mentioned?” 

Wynonna sucked in another breath and then cleared her throat, not meeting her eyes as she nodded.

“So I – I need to fix the timeline. Like, all of it. When I was twelve years old, Revenants attacked our homestead, and they killed Daddy and Willa. Well, they took Willa, we didn’t know she was still alive until years later, when it was too late. She was never the same. They broke something inside of her, and…” she shook her head.

“Anyways, shit happened, and somehow the timeline got fractured, splitting off into infinite directions. Please don’t ask me for details, you’re the one who understood all that stuff, I just showed up and shot at things with Peacemaker. The Heir – me – is supposedly the only one who can fix the timeline, by traveling through the other fractured remains of it and pulling the pieces back together. If I get all the right pieces in place, I get the original timeline back, save the world, _whatever_. If I do it properly, I can save Willa too.” 

Wynonna pulled Peacemaker out of her holster, spinning the gun around her finger and smoothly catching the handle. “See these symbols?” She angled the gun to the side so the faint etchings along the barrel were visible. “They’re the ones that glow, the sigils. The elements of the timeline somehow get stored in them, don’t ask me how. Every time I get another piece in place, a new sigil shows up.” 

Frustrated, she stopped by the couch and threw up her hands. “Unfortunately, it is _crazy hard_!” she yelled at the ceiling, holding the gun up in front of her face to glare at it.

“How do you know when it’s… finished?” Waverly queried, taking a step forward to get a better look at Peacemaker.

“Apparently the gun will let me know when it’s ‘complete in its task’,” Wynonna made finger quotes with her free hand, rolling her eyes at her own words. “Jesus knows when that’ll be. Until it happens, the original timeline is slowly degrading or something, and everything’s going to shit.” 

“…Sounds like a blast,” Waverly got out, at a loss and twisting her fingers together, “Could be some kind of movie plot, really.” 

“Except there’s no heroes left,” Wynonna laughed bitterly, “Nobody to save the day.” 

It was quiet, Wynonna slowly running her hand along the fabric of the back of the couch, and Waverly scrunched her eyebrows together. 

“There’s you,” she offered up, voice more tentative than she meant it to be, and at that Wynonna stared, a little wrinkle forming between her eyes. 

Then she ducked her head, rubbing the back of her neck and letting her hair fall forward to hide her face. “Just me. The one that nobody ever believed in. That’d make a great movie, Waves.” 

Waverly stayed quiet at that, wondering how different this Wynonna’s life had been from her own Wynonna’s, and she didn’t know which answer made it worse. 

That was when Nicole stuck her head through the doorway, calling them to the kitchen, and Wynonna lifted a corner of her mouth in a lopsided smile, hollow and not reaching her eyes. 

“Come on then, dinner time. You can ask me whatever questions you want, I know you’re dying to hear about this nerdy stuff.”

Waverly laughed softly and trailed after her, but her brow was still furrowed as she wondered above all else if Wynonna was okay.

“Does – does it hurt?” Waverly tried, leading the way into the kitchen and going to stand next to Nicole, “Jumping around timeline fragments?”

Wynonna scoffed and twirled Peacemaker around her finger, focused intently on the gun. “Come on, baby girl, it’s nothing. Like jumping in a pool or something. Cruising through time and space, that’s me.” 

The corner of Nicole’s mouth quirked up, and Waverly bit her lip, unable to help herself. “So you’re the Doctor, then?” 

“What?” Wynonna squinted at her in confusion. “The… oh, he’s the one in that show there, with the magic box, right? Doctor… Doctor Who?” 

Waverly raised an eyebrow. “He? There hasn’t been a male doctor since season three, where are they at where you’re from?” 

“I… have no idea,” Wynonna shrugged and reholstered the gun. “But yeah, it’s surprisingly cool, just, you know, chill.” She went over to lean against the table, linking one ankle over the other as she crossed her arms and giving them both a halfhearted smile. “Quite the ride.” 

Nicole pulled out Waverly’s chair for her, giving her a questioning look, and all she did was shrug in response before pressing a kiss to her cheek and taking her seat. The other two followed her lead, sitting down to eat and moving away from the heavier topics, and Waverly waited until they were mostly done before she brought up the question that had been hovering at the forefront of her mind.

“So, what about me?” she asked apprehensively, a curious note in her voice she couldn’t hide.

“Huh?” Wynonna finished chewing her mouthful of food, “What about you?” 

“You said you’ve seen all these different realities where Willa’s dead, but what about me? Am I ever… gone? Not there?” 

Wynonna went very still, and Waverly had her answer.

“Waves,” Nicole said softly, putting her hand on her leg and watching them both worriedly, and Waverly shook her head, half shrugging at her as she tried to smile reassuringly. 

“If it…” Wynonna hesitated, crumpling up her napkin in her fist, “If it helps… Those are the worst ones. When you’re… not there.” She cleared her throat and concentrated on now smoothing out her napkin flat against the table. “We’re always worse off without you.” 

Emotions she couldn’t recognize rose up in her throat, and Waverly slowly reached out to put a hand on Wynonna’s arm, the other clutching at Nicole’s. She didn’t know what to say to that, but luckily Wynonna didn’t seem to expect an answer, instead taking a deep breath and changing the subject. 

“So, what’s pop culture like in this timeline? You guys got Netflix?” 

Waverly let out a watery laugh and squeezed her arm once before pulling back, and they spent the rest of the meal finding the differences in their TV shows.

 

“Let me at least get you another jacket,” Waverly said when they had cleaned up all the dishes, preparing for Wynonna’s departure.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Wynonna looked down at herself, tugging at the torn hem of the one she was wearing, “I’m fine with this, really. It’ll be the newest thing, I’m calling it raggy chic.”

Waverly huffed a laugh and shrugged, already backing out of the room. “Nah, I mean, technically it’s your jacket anyways, so you probably won’t mind? Be right back!” 

Wynonna looked after her fondly as she scampered up the stairs, and then started in surprise when Nicole spoke.

“You – you were lying before, weren’t you,” Nicole said hesitantly, hands gripping her belt as she leaned against the table next to Wynonna. “To Waverly? About what jumping timelines feels like?” 

Wynonna gave her a tired smile and huffed a laugh, ducking her head and mumbling something that sounded like, “Damn observant cop.” 

“I’ll take that as a yes, then?”

“You catch on quick,” Wynonna laughed again, and the sound was only slightly bitter. “Where I’m from, you’re the one who knows jack shit, Haughtstuff.” 

Nicole didn’t say anything, watching her evenly, and eventually Wynonna sighed.

“Yeah, it hurts.” She focused on Nicole for a moment before shifting her gaze and skittering it across the room. “Hurts like a motherfucker, every time. Feels like I’m being torn apart.” 

Nicole winced, ducking her head. “How many jumps? How many… lives have you seen?” 

Wynonna shook her head again, looking down and swiping her thumb across one of the sigils on Peacemaker. “I lost track after number twenty–six. It kind of blurs together after a while.” 

“Wow,” Nicole murmured, pressing her lips together, “Seems intense.” 

Silence stretched out between them, and then Wynonna cleared her throat and turned to face her, leaning her hip against the table.

“You taking care of her?” Wynonna asked as she tilted up her chin, and her gaze was steady as she met Nicole’s eyes. 

Nicole nodded without a trace of hesitation, voice quiet but strong when she said, “Yes. I love her.” 

Wynonna searched her face for a moment, and then she relaxed again, settling back. “Okay,” she cuffed her gently in the shoulder with her fist, “Good. Just double-checking. Can’t leave my baby sister without… somebody.” 

They both straightened when Waverly came back down the stairs holding a leather jacket, and she passed it to Wynonna with an eager smile still tinged with sadness, taking the wrecked one from her when she shrugged out of it.

“Thank you, for dinner,” Wynonna said as she slipped her arms into the sleeves, adjusting the collar and tugging at the cuffs until she was satisfied. “Both of you. It – this was great, you don’t even know. But it’s time for me to head out, I suppose.” She knocked her fists together awkwardly and started moving backwards, “Stuff to do, people to save, all that.” 

“Wynonna, wait.” Waverly caught her elbow. “Wait, I…” 

Wynonna turned to her expectantly, and Waverly launched herself forward, wrapping her arms around her neck.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. “You may not be this timeline’s Wynonna, but you’re still my sister.” 

Wynonna didn’t say anything, and after a moment Waverly felt her arms come up to hug her back just as tightly, Wynonna pressing the side of her head against hers.

Eventually they broke apart, Waverly taking a step back, and she pretended not to notice the way Wynonna swiped at her eyes. 

“Alright, well…” Wynonna hooked a thumb over her shoulder at the empty hallway and gave them half a smile. “Once more unto the breach, huh?” 

Wynonna moved forward to give them each a one–armed hug, and then stepped back with a lazy salute and moving to the open hallway, pulling out her gun. As Waverly and Nicole trailed after her, she took a deep breath and aimed Peacemaker with her feet spread wide, the nozzle beginning to glow icy white-blue in an intricate spiralling design.

The world seemed to start fracturing around her, and Waverly squinted a little, instinctively raising a hand to shield her eyes. She struggled to keep watching her, but it was quickly becoming too much. 

“Catch you on the flip side, little sister.” Wynonna took a moment to flash her a crooked smile before her eyes darkened, and then she pulled the trigger.

 

Waverly never saw her again. 

 


End file.
